Open Loop Power Control Parameter Settings Impact on LTE HetNet Uplink Performance

Open Loop Power Control is an important technique providing adaptation of user transmit power. There are multiple factors like cell size, interference conditions, etc. that determine the optimal settings of power control (PC) parameters. In this paper, the impact of open loop PC parameter settings on the performance of LTE uplink (UL) in a co-channel heterogeneous network (HetNet) scenario with macro- and pico-cells is presented. Further, we study the difference in optimal PC settings for various network deployment scenarios and cell range extension (CRE) offsets in order to determine sensitivity of those parameter settings. It is found that optimal PC parameters for one case can serve as good parameters for other network configurations as well. The conclusions are supported by results of system-level simulations.